


not as sweet as you

by myscribblingquill



Category: Still Star-Crossed (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Cookie Shop, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cookie Shop, Cookies, F/M, Fluff, candy shop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-01
Updated: 2017-07-01
Packaged: 2018-11-22 02:24:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11370627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myscribblingquill/pseuds/myscribblingquill
Summary: In a little cookie shop, at exactly 3:20pm, Benvolio Montague walks in for his regular cookie order. Rosaline knows this because she's the one who serves him the cookies, and no matter what anyone else may say, she doesn't do it because she actually likes him, she does it because it's her job.





	not as sweet as you

**Author's Note:**

> Based of the prompt: I know I keep coming to the cookie shop and for some reason it’s always your shift but don’t you dare judge me I need these for my sanity.
> 
> Thanks to [Annie](https://clarkescrusade.tumblr.com) for finding all my missed comma's and capital letters!

At the expected time of 3:20 pm Rosaline hears the store bell ding. She doesn’t even have to look up to know who it is. She moves towards the case of cookies, picking up a cookie bag as she goes.

“Do you want your usual selection?” she asks, her gloved hand already picking out the cookies he normally asks for.

Benvolio sighs longingly at the cookies as she places them in the bag. He almost looks like he’s going to fade away in the minute it takes for her to process the transaction.

“You know, if it wasn’t for the way you look at the cookies, I would have thought there was another reason that you come in here so regularly,” she teases.

Ben takes the bag of cookies she hands over the counter. “Don’t mock me Capulet. These cookies are my lifeline on a Thursday.”

“Hm, so if I refused to sell you any more cookies?”

“My life is in your hands Capulet.” He bows to her, careful not to spill the now opened bag of cookies.

Rosaline chuckles at his awkward attempt of a bow. “Just watching out for your waistline, Montague.”

“Glad you appreciate it,” he says around a mouthful of cookie.

She has a retort on the tip of her tongue when Livia walks out of the back carrying a tray of fresh cookies. 

“Good afternoon.” She nods at Benvolio, unsurprised at his presence. “You’re not arguing again?”

“Actually,” Ben starts before Rosaline can get a word in, “Rosaline was just complimenting my physique.” He gestures down at himself while Rosaline rolls her eyes, not at all impressed by his antics.

“I was pointing out that with all the cookies he eats he’s at a very high risk of having a heart-attack on our doorstep.”

“Don’t deny it Capulet,” Ben starts to swagger towards the door. “You only like me for my body.”

Rosaline splutters at his comment but that doesn’t stop her watching him as he opens the door.

“Who says I like you Montague? I tolerate you ... and feed you cookies!” she calls to him as he passes out the door. Ben’s laugh echoes back through the shop, and Rosaline finds that she’s no longer able to suppress her smile.

When she turns around Livia gives her a satisfied smirk.

“You like him.” 

“I remember his cookie order. That doesn’t mean I like him,” Rosaline retorts.

Livia snorts. “You don’t remember my cookie order.”

“That’s because you steal all the cookies you want when they come out the oven.”

“I bake them therefore I get first pick.” Livia sticks her nose in the air. Rosaline laughs at her sister as she disappears into the back of the shop.

“And yet you never save me any!” Rosaline says in a pitiful voice.

If she’s lucky at the end of her shift, Livia will drop a bag of half burnt cookies onto her lap. They don’t sell them and both Rosaline and Livia hate to see them go to waste. It’s one of the only perks of working at the family shop. Capulet Cookies has been around for a few generations, and it’s normally the youngest sibling that inherits it, all the larger businesses going to the elder children.

But when Rosaline’s father died a few years ago her uncle took over. From what she can determine there’s very little that her uncle cares for, and the cookie shop doesn’t make that list. What he does care about, though, is the other business across the road. Montague’s is a candy store, with homemade sweets and truffles and all sorts of delicious looking things. The two store owners have some sort of long standing rivalry that Rosaline’s given up trying to understand. She’s just serves the cookies and ignores Benvolio’s surname that means he works for a rival business.

Rosaline goes back to serving customers for the last hour of her shift. She’s working till the shop closes but luckily there isn’t that long left of her shift. She won’t be back in the shop until the weekend, since college means she can only work three days a week. Livia works a little more, but then she’s working on her baking skills for college, unlike Rosaline who’s studying so that she can get out of the cookie shop.

The next week passes quickly. College and studying take up her time, so before she knows it Rosaline is checking the clock every few minutes - willing it to tick faster.

“I think we’re out of white chocolate chip,” Livia calls from the back, jerking Rosaline out of her thoughts.

The empty tray in the cabinet proves her right. Rosaline knows that they’re Benvolio’s favourite, so she asks Livia to check again.

“Well, there might be a few.” Livia waves a hand around the door. 

Rosaline reaches for the bag, but Livia pulls it back so she almost slips over. “Liv, give me the bag.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Livia,” Rosaline warns, trying to get the jump on her sister who is too fast and swipes the cookies out of Rosaline’s reach again. “I need those cookies.”

“Are you sure there’s not something else you need?” Livia swings the bag a little.

Without considering, Rosaline dives for the bag. Her body collides with the floor, but the cookies are safely within her grasp. 

“So, I heard you need something Capulet!” A smug voice drifts over the counter. “Anything I can help with?”

Livia’s giggle earns her a glare from Rosaline as she gets up off the floor.

“Oh, I need a lot of things. But nothing from you.” Holding up the bag of cookies triumphantly, she continues, “Though I think I have something you need.”

Ben’s not taking any notice of the cookies, though. Instead he’s fixated on her. His eyes are a little glazed over, and Rosaline is sure she can see him sweating even though the shop has air conditioning. 

“Ben?” Rosaline questions, worried that he’s forgotten all about the cookies which is very uncharacteristic of him.

He blinks, shifting his focus from Rosaline to the cookies. “Hm, yes cookies.”

“Are you alright?”

“Mmm, fine.” He busies himself with fishing out the correct change. Rosaline doesn’t believe him, but she lets it slide.

“I thought we’d lost you to a cookie coma for a minute.” She tries to tease him into a smile, which he half-heartedly gives.

“You might do if you don’t hand those over.” He jokes, but his usual jolly manner is missing. It’s obvious that his mind is occupied with other things, so Rosaline keeps the small talk to a minimum and moves onto the next customers.

There’s a sudden increase in people in the store, all asking for different cookies and special writing, and Rosaline is rushed off her feet. It’s not until her shift is about to end that she notices Ben tucked in one of the few corner tables, his book and paper spread of the desk. 

After ducking into the kitchen to hang up her apron and collect her bag, Rosaline comes back out and he’s still there. Though now, his book are packed up into a rucksack slung over his shoulder. There’s an expectant expression on his face that makes Rosaline’s stomach clench with nerves. Either he’s been paying attention to when her shifts end or that’s what Livia went to talk to him about when she left. Rosaline’s is betting on the latter, thanks to her traitorous sister.

“I was just finishing so I thought I’d wait.” Ben approaches her with a sheepish smile. “Hope you don’t mind.”

Trying to set him at ease, Rosaline narrows her eyes suspiciously. “Are you trying to extract more cookies from me, Montague?”

“Possibly.” He laughs, and Rosaline smiles with him. “I do think I should be reimbursed for my time spent escorting you home.”

His mock gallantry makes Rosaline roll her eyes. “I didn’t ask for your escort, my lord.” She fakes a curtsey while walking ,which almost causes her to fall and evokes a laugh from Benvolio.

“Ah yes, but I’m making sure that no one is able to kidnap you for the ransom of the cookies.”

“I don’t make the cookies,” Rosaline declares. “So there’s no point in anyone kidnapping me.”

“But you are the face of the company.” He pauses. For a moment Rosaline thinks he’s going to make a comment about her face, but it passes and he continues talking. “After all, I think your sister would be willing to make a lot of cookies to get you back.”

“A lot of .. white chocolate chip cookies?” 

A smile breaks over Ben’s face though he tries to hide it by biting his lip. “Well, if the occasion arises.”

“Montague, if you kidnap me I’m never selling you any cookies again.”

She glares at him with a pointed finger. There’s an abjectly interested look on Ben’s face that makes Rosaline thinks he annoys her for more than the sake of it. The way he intently watches her mouth when she talks and how he gazes into her eyes when her temper flares used to make her feel a little self-conscious. It felt as if he was judging her for her anger. But as she got more comfortable with his taunts, Rosaline’s started to notice something that she doesn’t want to name.

Ben whines a little when Rosaline mentions that she’d stop selling him cookies. His dejected face tugs at Rosaline’s heartstrings. If she’s honest he could just walk into the store and ask for the cookie with a pitiful look on his face and she’d probably give them to him. Sure, she might throw them into the middle of the road first, but she’d make sure they’d be wrapped in pretty paper.

“If I promise not to kidnap you do you promise to sell me as many cookies as I wish?” Ben questions, but Rosaline can’t help but feel he’s asking something else. 

Instead of trying to answer whatever hidden question Benvolio is hiding, she answers the one he asked. “As long as I’m still working at the cookie shop.”

Satisfied that his supply of cookie is secure, Ben turns the subject to more trivial matters. Rosaline doesn’t mind the change. If she’d been walking by alone drafting the perfect start for her assignment and then forgetting it again. Ben is a good distraction. 

After they part ways, Rosaline is at her front door when a thought occurs to her. All the other times she’s seen Benvolio leave the cookie store he’s turned left. It’s well known that the Montague’s live on the north side of town. It’s the opposite side to where Rosaline’s apartment with her sister is. 

She keeps working and studying and it should feel like nothing in her life has changed but there’s an imperceptible shift that Rosaline can’t exactly work out the source off. It’s not life disrupting but it’s a little uncomfortable. It makes her check around corners and refresh her emails every thirty seconds without realising she’s doing it.

“You’re so jumpy,” Livia comments one day when they’re walking to work. “Are you alright?”

As Rosaline doesn’t really know what’s wrong with her, she tells her sister that she’s fine. And she is. Livia obviously doesn’t believe her as she keeps checking and then she starts to attempt to bring her out of her mood.

“Liv, as much as I love you I don’t need you to cuddle me while I know the Bake Off is on TV,” Rosaline protests one evening when Livia’s decided that obviously Rosaline is suffering for a lack of affection and the only way to remedy it is by excessive cuddles.

The next day Livia changes her tactic. She resorts to pranking Rosaline, for a reason that even she can’t understand.

There are water balloons in the till, a padlock on her handbag, and all of her pillows go missing. 

“Livia you better not have-” Rosaline pushes open the door to the kitchen and as she does so a bag of flour tips over her head. She’s covered from head to toe, with slightly damp flour which sticks to her skin. 

Livia, obviously, finds it hilarious but Rosaline, obviously doesn’t. She chases her sister around the kitchen till she manages to envelop her in a hug, smearing the flour across Livia’s face. 

“I think it suits you,” Livia comments, while they’re wiping the flour off their faces. They gave up with their clothes, changing into clean uniforms and wrapping the flour covered one in a bin bag.

“I don’t think flour suits anyone.” Rosaline all but flounces back out to the front counter.

When she gets there Benvolio is waiting patiently at the front of the queue. He could have got his cookies and left. Rosaline isn’t the only person that works at Capulet Cookies. As soon as he sees her, Ben makes his way over to her, pointing out the cookies he wants. 

He does seem a little distracted though. There are a few times when she looks at him and he’s staring at her face. The cookies don’t seem to be the most important thing to Ben and that’s a little odd.

“There you go.” Rosaline hands the cookies over.

“Thanks.” He doesn’t move away from the counter after he’s taken the bag though. “You’ve got a little something.” Ben leans across the counter and swipes a thumb along Rosaline’s cheek. She sees flour fall to the floor and her hands go to cover her face.

“Oh god,” she says with an embarrassed laugh. “Livia pranked me and got flour everywhere.”

“I can tell.” Ben smiles.

Rosaline waves a quick goodbye as she hurries back to the bathroom. When there she finds that her face is still mostly covered with flour, with a thumb print on her cheek. Luckily the flour comes off quickly. But the sight of her clean face doesn’t alleviate Rosaline’s mortification. She’s really not sure why she cares so much about Benvolio seeing her with flour all over her face. It’s not like she cares about his opinion. She puts it down to not wanting to look like a fool in front of a Montague and goes back to work.

Rosaline spends the next few days ignoring several suspicious circumstances. Everytime she finishes a shift at work, Livia sticks her head out the kitchen and watches her walk out the door. She also sends a text about 20 minutes later asking if she enjoyed her walk. Rosaline can’t help but think that her sister is attempting to pry information out of her. But Rosaline has none to supply so she leaves the messages unread.

Then there’s the sign that appears in the window of Montagues’. It advertises a new type of candy they’ve developed. Lemon flavoured with chocolate drizzled over the top. Rosaline’s favourite, a fact she happened to mention to Benvolio during their walk.

For days she keeps her resolve and walks straight past the sign. When Ben comes in for his cookies he gives her a smirk but refrains from saying anything too out of the ordinary. 

Its Saturday when her willpower breaks. She’s just finished an assignment and is walking home from campus when the confectionary in the window is too good to pass by. It’s not her fault. It really isn’t. She did walk past, but she’s sure they’d opened the door a little so she could smell the lemon. 

There’s no bell ring when she pushes the door open. Instead she’s greeted by a bright smile and cheerful hello. His name tag reads ‘Romeo’ and the pieces click together in her head. Rosaline’s cousin Juliet has been taking and talking about a Romeo. The barriers separating them were little more than an annoyance to Juliet, but she still spends her time sharing her problems with Rosaline. It all makes sense now. Romeo is a Montague and Juliet a Capulet. If either of their fathers found out it’s likely there would be a food fight in the street.

“How can I help you?” Romeo asks, evidently unaware of who Rosaline is.

Just as she’s about to ask for some of the mouth-watering lemon candies another member of staff appears. Rosaline feels ready to sink into the floor as she sees the smile on Benvolio’s face.

“I’ve got this one,” he says, nodding at Rosaline. ”Go make out with your girlfriend.”

Romeo looks between the pair, his brow furrowed, confused as to why Benvolio is suddenly so willing to serve customers.

“So, Capulet?” Ben smirks as he tugs on his bright blue plastic gloves. “What can I get you?”

To spite him, she wanders down the cabinet examining each different flavour they have on offer. She doesn’t let her gaze rest on the lemon candies though. Ben’s eyes follow her as she walks, the hairs on her neck prickling.

“Anything you like?” he gestures down at the candies and Rosaline has to remind herself that’s what she here for. Candy and sweets, nothing else.

“Livia’s been asking for some strawberry chocolate lately. Do you have any?” she concocts the lie out of nowhere. 

He points to the sweets, which are right next to the lemon candies. When he’s finished packaging Livia’s sweets, Ben’s hands wander back over to the lemon candies, as if expecting her to ask for them. She doesn’t. Instead Rosaline asks for a mixture of the traditional sweets line up in jars along the wall. Ben has to get the ladder out to get the sweet jars down and Rosaline becomes increasingly aware of just how tight his jeans are.

As soon as all her items are rung up on the till, Rosaline pays them so as not to allow herself to buy any of the lemon candies. She can’t help but send one last longing glance at the delicately decorated sweets.

Benvolio’s eyes follow hers so she quickly pulls them away. It’s too late though as a smile pulls at the edges of Ben’s lips. He reaches down behind the counter, a bag with her name written with swirling writing is added to the top of her bag.

“We have some lemon and chocolate leftover.” Ben says as nonchalantly as possible. “I know you mentioned liking them.”

“Did you put salt in them?”

“I promise they’re just as sweet as you, dear spitfire.”

Rosaline’s not sure if he intends it as a compliment or a warning. She’s not going to complain at the offer of free sweets, especially if they’re her favourite. 

“Thanks.” She tugs the bag of the counter, intending to leave before he can make another suspiciously phrased comment.

“Ros?” A familiar voice comes from the staff area. “I thought you didn’t like Montagues?” Juliet asks as she peeps around the door.

“I don’t,” Rosaline’s sputters, her face turning bright red. “I just, Livia wanted sweets.”

“Okay,” Juliet doesn’t look convinced, but she turns to Romeo and introduces him. “This is Rosaline.”

“Oh, that Rosaline.” Romeo’s face lights up as his gaze flicks to Benvolio. “Nice to meet you.”

“You too.” Rosaline tries to edge towards the door slowly. 

Juliet, however, notices her attempted escape. “Wait a minute Ros, I’ll walk home with you.”

It turns out that Juliet’s notion of a minute is actually five spent kissing Romeo goodbye. Rosaline would tell her cousin that she’ll go on ahead but when her lips are locked with Romeo’s she doubts Juliet’s mind is able to concentrate on anything else. So she’s stuck in the sweet shop, turning a deaf ear to the sloppy kissing sounds from behind her.

Ben doesn’t seem particularly phased by the scene going on. He looks bored. As if he’s seen it too many times. Rosaline decides to ignore him after he raises an eyebrow and nods at Juliet and Romeo. After a few minute of awkward silence though, Ben’s patience’s breaks. 

He pushes Romeo off Juliet. “Stop contaminating the work surface. I’ve already disinfected it twice today.”

Juliet blushes, gives Romeo one last kiss and scampers out the door dragging Rosaline behind her. She blurts out a goodbye to the boys as Juliet begins to question her on why exactly she was in the shop to start with.

The whole way home Rosaline maintains that she was only there for the sweets. The statement is convincing enough that she almost believes it. That would be if she didn’t keep dwelling on Ben’s smile when he saw her, or how their fingers brushed when he passed her the bag. But none of those things are particularly important, so she doesn’t share them with Juliet or Livia. She tucks them inside her heart and thinks about them when she has a spare moment.

Like most things in her life that Rosaline isn’t ready to confront, she ignores why she likes to think of the little moments she shares with Benvolio. If she told Livia or Jules they would both want to spend hours analysing each moment. There would be tubs of ice cream and at the end of it all Rosaline would feel just as confused as at the beginning. They both mean well. But Rosaline prefers to avoid both of their questions.

Livia starts to take more notice of when Ben is in the shop. Like Rosaline she’s picked up that he comes in at regular times. In addition to the weekly thursday afternoon, he's also started appearing at other times. It always catches Rosaline off guard when he walks through the door unexpectedly. An involuntary smile crosses her face before she can squash it, and Ben’s face brightens when he sees her.

“Hi Ben,” Livia sticks her head out the door. “Enjoying your cookies?”

He doesn’t say anything, as his mouth is full, but he sticks both thumbs up. 

“Did he get new ones again?” Livia says in a quieter voice to Rosaline, so Ben can’t hear.

Ever since Rosaline visited Montagues’ Ben had started to change his cookie selection. He still had the white chocolate ones but he’d keep trying out new ones. It wouldn’t be anything to remark on but he never seems to eat them. Now Ben’s started to hang about in the shop after buying his cookies, doing studying or reading over notes. By the time he leaves, the only cookies left in the bag are the new ones.

It’s not really Rosaline’s concern, but she can’t help but be curious. She can’t mention it though or he’ll know that she’s been watching him eat, which is a little creepy. It’s been four weeks. Luckily for Rosaline Livia is less patient than she is.

“Do you like the other cookies?” she asks, swinging her body on the counter door.

Ben looks slightly startled. “Yeah, they’re good.” He thumbs the bag. “I still like the white chocolate ones, though.”

“I gathered.” Livia laughs at the crumbs on the table. Rosaline shoots them both a smile while she’s busy serving customers.

A few days later she finds out what the extra cookies are for. That day he asks for two lemon poppy cookies, along with the white chocolate. Rosaline bags the cookies and then moves onto the next customers. The shop is so busy that she can only exchange normal pleasantries, but she tries to add extra brightness to her voice so Ben knows that she would stay and chat if she could. 

She’s so busy that she doesn’t notice the napkin left by the till. Ben’s long gone by then. The napkin, however, contains one of the lemon poppy cookies that he brought. At least Rosaline assumes that its from Ben. There have only been a few of those cookies sold that day and none since Ben had been. The swirly writing on the front is the same as writing that was on the bag of lemon sweets he’d given her.

Rosaline takes the cookie and hides it in her apron. There’s no reason for Livia to know, it’s not even confirmed that Ben left it. She keeps the napkin afterwards though, just in case she needs blackmail material of course.

When he comes in next, Rosaline doesn’t mention the extra cookies. But when she checks the till, there’s another napkin with her name on it. Six cookies later and Rosaline still hasn’t figured out how he manages to get to cookies onto the till without her seeing him. She’s tried to watch him, but no matter how hard she tries, there’s a cookie on her till and she didn’t see him put it there.

After he’d left the fourth cookie, Livia found her eating it during her break. She had tried to pass it off as a cookie she’d brought but Livia’s sharp eyes saw the writing on the napkin. Since then she’d been constantly telling Rosaline to speak to him about it. Objectively, Rosaline knows that he must have a reason for leaving the cookie, but she’s not sure if she’s ready to hear him say it yet.

The next cookie he leaves is a red velvet, one of Rosaline’s favourites. He doesn’t leave the shop after it’s been delivered though, taking his normal table tucked in the corner. Rosaline sees his eyes scanning the till after a couple of minutes. His jaw tightens and Rosaline assumes that he’s smiling.

“I’m taking my break.” She shouts back to Livia and draws the cookie out of her apron pocket.

She plops down in the seat opposite Benvolio, placing the cookie on the table with her name facing him. His head is still bent, but Rosaline can tell that he’s seen the napkin. “Thanks for the cookies.” 

Ben raises his head, a faint blush darkening his cheeks. “You’re welcome.” He twirls his pen in his hand. “You always look like you can do with a snack.”

Rosaline nods. She pulls the cookie out of the napkin, careful not to crumple it too much, and starts to eat it.

“Besides, I was trying to figure out your favourite.” Ben pulls out the other red velvet cookie he brought and starts pulling it apart without eating it.

“This one,” Rosaline mumbles around the cookie. “This one’s definitely my favourite.”

“Didn’t you say it was Key Lime last week?” Livia calls over with an innocent smile. 

Rosaline freezes. Last week Ben had left a key lime cookie. She glances over at him and his beaming smile confirms that he remembers.

“Hmm, so it changes, does it?” Ben asks without dimming his smile.

She answers him with a glare which earns a laugh. Rosaline finishes her mouthful and stands up from her chair. Ben’s smile fades a little. 

“I have work to get back to.” She states, disregarding Livia’s objection that she still has five minutes of her break left.

“Alright, see you soon Capulet.” Ben waves at her twenty minutes later as he disappears out the door. 

After that Rosaline expects the cookies to stop. Now that Ben knows that she knows, Rosaline’s almost sure that whatever nefarious plan he was concocting has been stalled and she’ll not be getting any more surprise cookies. It turns out she’s wrong. When he visits next there’s another cookie on her till afterwards. Its another Red Velvet, with her name on the front.

Rosaline doesn’t notice the difference between this cookie and the last one. She’s at home, adding the napkin to her collection that she promises herself she’ll throw out soon, when she see the extra writing on the inside. It’s small enough that she missed it when unwrapping the cookie. The eleven printed numbers make Rosaline’s heart leap.

It’s absurd really, considering that she already has Benvolio’s number. Juliet had practically forced them to exchange numbers a few weeks ago, insisting that they need each other's contacts for ‘health and safety’ purposes. Rosaline still has been able to discover what exactly those health and safety purposes are.

_I already have your number. I don’t need it twice Montague._

_Just checking._

_Why?_

She’s barely pressed the send button when the picture she’d assigned Ben, a white chocolate cookie, fills the screen.

“So that I could do this.” Ben says, in answer to her question.

“Are you that desperate to hear my voice?” 

Rosaline hears him chuckle down the phone, the feedback from a bad connection making it a little shaky.

“I just wanted to check that my cookie supplier was still safe.” 

“Safe and sound.”

The static matches Ben breathing as neither of them says anything. It’s not an awkward silence, it’s just silence, comfortable and soothing. 

Rosaline wiggles back into her sofa, finding a more cosy position with her blankets drawn over her legs. 

“So I’m pretty sure that one of my neighbours has a rabbit.” She launches into the story that she’d been constructing in her head for the next time she saw him. It’s not that same as telling him face to face, there are no crinkled eyes as he laughs, or ruffling of his hair, but Rosaline gets to hear his laugh and talk to him for a little while so it makes her evening.

They finally hang up and Rosaline sees the call time at over two hours, wondering where the time went. It felt like only a few minutes. She would have been happy to keep talking but she could hear Ben falling asleep on the phone so she hung up so he had no more excuses for not sleeping.

It occurs to her as she’s falling asleep that Ben didn’t really have a reason for calling. While they were talking it felt like he wanted to ask her something. Throughout the whole call there was the feeling of expectation, of possibility that they could finally talk about things Rosaline is still stubbornly ignoring. She shrugs the feeling off, pushes it to the back of her mind, and shuts her eyes with the thought of Benvolio’s smile echoing through her dreams.

Eventually though, the dam breaks. It’s completely expected and unexpected at the same time. Rosaline’s served Ben his cookies like normal and he’s at his table, as she’s taken to calling it. She’s so used to him leaving an extra cookie for her that she reaches for it absently before noticing that it not there. At it’s absence she checks the rest of the counter. Maybe he hid it somewhere. One cookie search later, and Rosaline still hasn’t found it. 

“You didn’t leave me a cookie.” She says to Ben, trying and failing to not sound like a petulant child.

He stretches his legs under the table so their legs brush together. Rosaline starts at the contact but doesn’t move away. Instead she shifts her leg so it’s a little closer to his, not quite touching but close enough that they both know it’s there.

Benvolio doesn’t respond to Rosaline, though. He’s got a look on his face. One that Rosaline’s only seen a few times before, mostly before assignments or when she assumes he’s thinking about the possibility of them. For a moment, Rosaline thinks of getting up and going back to work but she knows they’ll have to have this conversation sooner or later. So she waits for him to form his thoughts. Although the thought of losing his friendship scares her, she wants to find out what might happen if they become something other than friends.

Ben looks like he’s about to run out of the shop or throw up all over the table so Rosaline decides to take some of the pressure off. “You can’t get me attached to those cookies and then decide to stop leaving them.” 

The tension in his shoulders breaks, and Rosaline takes a deep breath. 

“My apologies.” He takes a cookie shaped napkin out of the little bag on the table and hands it took her.

Rosaline takes the cookie and smiles brightly. The napkin is a little different to the other’s though. It says ‘Ros’ instead of ‘Rosaline’. The shortening of her name makes the gift more personal. It makes her think that in his head she’s not Rosaline, but she’s Ros now and that perhaps he really does think about her that way she thinks about him.

“Hey Ros,” Ben says, drawing her attention away for those three little letters and back to him. “Do you want to go on a date with me?”

“Yes.” 

There’s no hesitation in her reply. Ever since he started texting her about all the ducks he sees on his way home from work, Rosaline’s known that no matter how absurd and annoying he is, she would go on a date with him. And if he hadn’t asked her soon, she would have stuck her heart on her sleeve and asked him.

“Yes?” Ben repeats her answers, as if checking that he heard it correctly. “You actually want to go on a date with me?”

“Yep, I guess Livia must have slipped something into the latest batch of peanut butter cookies.” She holds up the cookie he gave her.

“Thank god for Livia.” Ben laughs.

Rosaline nods her agreement. Under the table she nudges his leg, just to see if she can get a reaction. It works. A blush spreads up Ben’s neck and across his cheeks, so he strokes his foot up her leg. Rosaline jerks in shock when she feels the shoeless foot against her tights.

“Two can play at that game.” Ben says at her blush.

“I should get back to work.” Rosaline is reluctant to move from the chair. Benvolio’s foot it still pressed against her leg.

“Yeah I should.” He clears his throat, remembering why he was there in the first place. “I should finish this assignment.”

“Good luck.” Rosaline gets up from the chair, slightly surprised when Ben follows her movements and stands up too. “Um, text me when you’re free for our date.”

Ben’s face breaks into a smile matching Rosaline’s at the mention of their date. He leans forward to press his lips gently to her forehead. Rosaline can feel the smile on his lips. She has to force herself not to melt into the floor as he draws back and looks into her eyes.

“I’ve been wanting to do that for weeks.” His eyes flick down to her lips and then back to her eyes. “That and more.”

“We’ve got a whole date to do ‘that and more’.” Rosaline waggles her eyebrows at him, causing another laugh.

She retreats behind the counter again but her mind is still sat at the little table with Ben’s foot against her leg.

“What was that?” Livia hisses quietly to a dazed Rosaline.

Unable to keep the smile off her lips, Rosaline ducks her head. “I’ll tell you about it later.”

They arrange to meet outside the university campus a few days later. Rosaline spends too much time in front of the mirror before leaving that morning. She knows her hair will be messy before lunchtime but she can’t help it. Even if Ben had seen her with flour on her face. 

Juliet and Livia practically pin her down to put mascara and lipstick on . She sneaks into the bathroom after they’ve left and wipes it off. Not because she doesn’t like it, but because she rubbed her eyes and ended up with the mascara smear across her eyelid.

Rosaline sees Benvolio from a distance. The path is straight so she can see him but he doesn’t notice her. He’s wearing the same jacket he’s always wearing. With it’s coffee stain on the right shoulder, and the weird patch under the arm that’s falling off. From what she can tell it looks like he’s wearing a shirt though. He keeps shifting his weight from foot to foot, like he would if he’s cold, but he’s not cold and Rosaline can see him looking anxiously around. It dawns on her that he’s nervous. After all the bluster and confidence he normally shows she’d forgotten that most of Benvolio’s outward presentation was an act.

It’s odd to see him outside the cookie shop. Almost like they’re breaking some sort of taboo. If it was anyone other than Ben, Rosaline would be worried that their friendship, relationship, whatever it is that’s going on between them, wouldn’t work outside of those specific four walls. But it is Benvolio and Rosaline knows that they’ll argue within the first five minutes and then be laughing two minutes later.

“Hey,” he says when she finally gets close enough to draw his attention. 

“Hey”

“So.”

“So, any ideas?” Rosaline smiles. Her hand twitches, and she almost grabs his so she shoves her twitching hand in her pocket and focuses on his crooked jacket collar. 

“Well,” Ben beams at her. “I’ve heard of this great little cookie shop.”

“I don’t think you need anymore cookies.” Rosaline laughs. 

By mutual consent they start wandering down the street. Ben asks how her day was and she launches into a rant about her assignments. He agrees and comforts in the right places. 

They’ve only been walking for a few minutes when Rosaline slips her hand back out of her pockets and reaches for Ben’s hand. Her fingers intertwine with his.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Say hi on [tumblr](willsdarcy.tumblr.com)


End file.
